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Borestranden: Take Two

Monday, 30 September 2013

Back in February, Joe and I drove South of Stavanger to check out Borestranden. Even in the winter, bundled in parkas and toques, the beach was gorgeous. The massive sand dunes and the clear, blue water were impressive and we vowed to make our way back in the summer.

Mid-July, the sun was out and so were the people. The parking lot was packed so full, we wondered if we'd even find a spot. As we made our way along the uneven, wooden path over the dunes, the long, sandy beach stretched for miles on either side of us but surprisingly, there were only a few children playing in the sand. We wondered where all of the people who had left their cars had went - were we missing something?

The beach is windy. Really windy. Despite the clear skies and sunshine, that wind brought quite a chill right off the North Sea. As we lugged our cooler and towels to find a spot, it became evident where all of the people were. Behind each sand dune, we'd notice the top of a head or a leg stretched out on a towel. One man had his head wedged between 2 sand dunes and his body outstretched on the beach. Others had climbed up the other side of the dunes, with no view of the water whatsoever but stretched out to suntan nonetheless. There were hundreds of beach-goers at Borestranden that day but you had to search for them.

Eventually, we found our own little bunker that offered some respite from the wind. We watched the kids, completely unfazed by the wind, playing along the beach and a couple of very talented kite surfers fly and glide in and out from the shore.

This is such a gorgeous place! There aren't any beaches in the Bergen area (or if there are, I haven't found them yet), but I remember seeing some beautiful (I think) beaches south of the Hardangerfjord while landing by plane and I made a mental note to hopefully check them out one day.